De Lima mad over slay of robbery gang leaders

Demanding an explanation from the Philippine National Police (PNP), an angry Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the “fishy’’ and “very ridiculous” circumstances that led to the alleged attempt to spring a rearrested leader of the Ozamiz holdup-robbery group who ended up dead in the hands of his police escorts.

In a statement, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said he directed an investigation of the deaths of the two men.

De Lima summoned to her office early Tuesday acting Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Franklin Bucayu and Supt. Venancio Tesoro to get an explanation on why Ozamiz gang leader Ricky Cadavero and Wilfredo Panogalinga Jr. ended up dead on Monday night in Laguna province.

Bucayu and Tesoro attended the news conference of Roxas in Camp Crame in Quezon City on Monday for the supposed turnover of the two Ozamiz gang leaders to them.

But it turned out that the PNP through Chief Supt. Benito Estipona, Calabarzon police chief, and Supt. Danilo Mendoza, head of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG), did not turn over Cadavero and Panogalinga after the news conference.

“There are a lot of questions to be answered, especially from the PNP Group,” De Lima said, adding she was “pissed” off because the BuCor was used to show that the two men had been turned over to the agency.

Ozamiz gang leaders Cadavero and Panogalinga were shot dead by the police after the two allegedly grabbed the service firearms of their security police escorts inside a police van.

Motorcycle-riding gunmen

This happened around 6:30 p.m. as motorcycle-riding gunmen ambushed the police convoy, carrying the two convicts in San Pedro, Laguna province. The police were supposed to take them to Camp Vicente Lim after attending an inquest for illegal possession of firearms in Cavite province.

Cadavero and Panogalinga bolted from prison late last year. They were recaptured from a safe house in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, last Friday and were slapped with a new case of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Chinese drug traffickers

Cadavero’s group was said to be behind the daring escape of two convicted Chinese drug traffickers in Trece Martires City five months ago.

At the news conference, De Lima had Tesoro, who headed the team tasked with receiving and securing Cadavero and Panogalinga after the turnover in Camp Crame, narrated what happened.

Tesoro said after Roxas’ noontime press conference, prison officers were waiting for the turnover of the two men to them so that they could be brought to the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

But Tesoro said he was informed by Estipona and Mendoza that they would use the prison van to transport Cadavero and Panogalinga, prompting him to order his men to assist the police in securing and bringing the two men to the NBP.

General’s intervention

“General Estipona and Mendoza intervened and advised that the fugitive be brought to their camp (in Dasmariñas City) for the necessary proceedings,” Tesoro told reporters.

He said he informed Bucayu who had required the police to give them “receipts.” So, Tesoro said he went back to Estipona and Mendoza to tell them to just do the inquest proceedings at the NBP.

But the two police officials insisted to do the proceedings in the police camp in Cavite province.

En route to the police camp in Cavite, Tesoro said they stopped at the NBP in Muntinlupa City but only at the facade of the NBP building where Mendoza brought out Cadavero and Panogalinga from the prison van and had them transferred to the police van.

Tesoro said he inquired whether they would have any turnover ceremony but was told that the police would not turn over the two men because they were “still in the process of completing the measures” and that they would only do so after the inquest proceedings.

The two police officials then left with Cadavero and Panogalinga in the police van that was escorted by several police cars.

“What is unusual there is that the fugitive should have been physically turned over to us at Muntinlupa. That’s the practice and that was why we never expected that they would call us for that purpose (to just escort the police) because they’ve been doing that since time immemorial,” Tesoro told reporters.

De Lima blamed Director Bucayu for not clearing it with her.

She said she had asked for a formal explanation from Bucayu, who was sitting right next to her at the news conference.

Questionable move

When news broke out that Cadavero and Panogalinga had been killed by police escorts for trying to wrest firearms from them as the two men’s alleged cohorts tried to stop their vehicle, De Lima said she was “so alarmed.”

“I smell something fishy in the whole story because in the first place why hold a press conference to show that they were turned over from the police to BuCor,” she said.

Another questionable move was the insistence of police officials to hold inquest proceedings in Dasmariñas City when it could be held in the NBP as done in most cases.

“And if you’ve come from Dasmariñas, why go to San Pedro? The police can always go via the expressway but they went farther,” the justice secretary said.

“I want answers from General Estipona and Superintendent Mendoza to explain the whole thing. It’s good I was not part of the press con [on Monday]. I would look like a fool there,” said De Lima.

She said she had directed the NBI to investigate the deaths of the two men because of the very ridiculous circumstances.

‘Moro-moro’

“Was it moro-moro (for show)?” the justice secretary said, raising her voice in anger.

NBI Director Nonnatus Rojas said the NBI Death Investigation Division, NBI Region 4A and the NBI Cavite office would conduct the investigation of the circumstances that led to the deaths of Cadavero and Panogalinga.

De Lima said she had texted Roxas on Monday night about the incident but had not yet spoken to him. But she believed that the interior secretary was just as incensed as her about what happened.

Napolcom probe

“I have ordered the Napolcom (National Police Commission) and the PNP to conduct a thorough investigation into this incident and submit a report in the soonest possible time for us to hold accountable those who may be responsible for this,” Roxas said.

Bucayu told reporters that he had expected the PNP to turn over the two men to the BuCor after the news conference and was surprised that this did not happen. “There was no effective turnover to us,” he said.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima on Tuesday ordered the administrative relief of the police escorts of Cadavero and Panogalinga.

“I have also ordered the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management to organize a fact-finding team to look into the criminal aspects of this incident,” Purisima said in a statement.

“We will leave no stone unturned in this investigation. We assure the public that this will be fair and the results will be made known as soon as possible,” he added.

Besides the police escorts, who belonged to the RSOG of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) police, Purisima also relieved their immediate superiors.

“As the chief and father of the Philippine National Police, I am saddened by the incident, knowing how hard we worked to locate and recapture these fugitives,” he said.

To remove any doubt, the PNP started an internal probe of the alleged ambush that left two leaders of the Ozamiz criminal gang dead.

Chief Supt. Alexander Roldan, chief of the PNP Internal Affairs Service (IAS), led the investigation on Tuesday of members of the RSOG in Calabarzon.

Roldan arrived in Camp Vicente Lim, the Calabarzon police headquarters in Calamba City, Laguna province, to get statements from  Mendoza and the policemen involved in the shooting, according to Estipona.

“We welcome any investigation by the IAS or any independent body,” Estipona said in a phone interview.

Atimonan massacre

Early this year, the Calabarzon police were also in hot water over the killing of suspected gambling lord Vic Siman and 12 others in Atimonan, Quezon province.

“No, my men and I are not like that,” said Estipona, who took over the command of the regional police after Chief Supt. James Melad and several other police officials were relieved, pending the court’s decision on the Atimonan case.

Estipona said the Calabarzon police just followed legal procedures when they took Cadavero and Panogalinga to the Cavite prosecutor’s office.

Supt. Chito Bersaluna, San Pedro police chief, meanwhile, said Cadavero suffered at least two gunshots fired by the police but noted that this was inconclusive as results of the autopsy have yet to come out.

The police are tracking down the gunmen who staged the ambush.—With reports from Nancy C. Carvajal in Manila and Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon